Old Friends and New
Prologue A year ago "The sky is beautiful, Mistfrost." Treestripe curled his tail around his paws, gazing up at the night sky. The cool breeze ruffled his fur, making him smile with content. Next to him sat Mistfrost, who was also gazing up at the sky with pretty blue eyes. "Indeed." Mistfrost sighed happily. "How is Tanclaw?" Treestripe asked, looking over at the gray she-cat. "Can't you ask her yourself?" Mistfrost rose an eyebrow. Treestripe sighed, this time in grief, and stared at the ground beneath his paws. "I can't face her. Not since... yeah." Mistfrost laid her tail over his shoulders comfortingly. "Tanclaw is a nice cat, she can't stay mad at you forever. Who knows? Maybe your kits will fulfill your wish after all." Treestripe shook his head. "Not without Tanclaw's permission, and we already saw what she thinks of it. She was always so kind... I didn't think she would be so angry about it." "But in the end, it's up to the kits." Mistfrost wrapped her tail tighter around Treestripe's shoulders and looked up at the glittering sky again. After what seemed like a few minutes, it was moonhigh. Mistfrost stood, shok out her light gray fur, and started to pad away. "I think I'll go hunting. I might not catch much this late, but it's better than just going back to camp." "Mistfrost, you shouldn't hunt so much while carrying kits." Treestripe warned. "You're going to lose them, or hurt yourself." Mistfrost looked back at the tom, the annoyance in her cool, blue eyes peircing through his pelt. "I'll do what I want, thank you." she replied rudely. "I don't even want stupid kits!" With a sudden change of expression, she looked down at the ground in saddness. "They... well... they might not turn out good. They might not turn out to be good warriors." she looked back up, tears in her eyes. "I can't handle that possiblity." Chapter 1:Settling In "No." Umbra turned around and padded away. Velox raced in front of her, blocking her way. "Consider it before you just run off, Umbra!" he told her, frustrated. "I know you don't like clans, and neither do I, but the Clouder woul-" "Just be another clan." Umbra finished, narrowing her multicolored eyes. "It wouldn't have the same rules, but it would be just as bad. I'm going back to the Mist Fields." "No you're not." When Umbra tried to dart past him, Velox grabbed her tail in his teeth and dug his claws into the ground, not allowing her to move further. "The whole point of this is to make a clan that isn't as bad or crazy as others." Rowanfall explained. Everyone had gathered around and she and Heathernose had just finished telling them their idea for the Clouder of Strong Rowans. The second she had stopped talking, Umbra had simply refused. "We're going to make a group without ranks, we'll accept anyone to join us, we'll protect others, we won't have stupid rules, we'll be a group of friend and not a clan!" Umbra stopped struggling with Velox and looked at her paws for a moment. "Help others?" she asked softly. "Like.. feed those who need food but can't join us? Heal those who are hurt but can't stay?" Rowanfall nodded, touching Umbra with her ginger tail to assure her. "Come on, we should go pick our dens." She stepped away. "That is, if you agree." Umbra sighed. "I agree, but if this isn't... if this turns out as bad as a clan... I'm leaving." with that, she turned and padded back to the group. Rowanfall and Velox followed, sitting down in the center of a clearing of trees. This clearing was right next to the tree where Heather and her kits had made themselves at home, and next to quite a lot of other trees with dens in them. "Does everyone else agree?" Rowanfall asked. There were positive noises from everyone, accept for Crystal, who was distracted. "Gemma? Gemma? Where are you?" Crystal called, searching for her daughter. "I'm here, mommy!" Gemma poked her white face out of the entrance to Heather's den, looking quite happy. "Can this be our den? It's so cozy!" "That's Heather's den, Sweetie." Crystal raced over and balanced on her hind legs so she was at eye-level with Gemma. "We don't mind sharing." Heather said, tail curled around Fox and Swan. "It's big enough for us all; it seems the safest for kits anyway." "If you don't mind, then I guess it's okay." Crystal grabbed Gemma by the scruff of her neck. "Do godda asf firft, Demma." the mother told her kit through the fur in her mouth. "So, the two queens found a place to stay, how about everyone else?" Rowanfall turned around to see the group had dispersed already, running around and looking in the trees to find good dens. She purred with laughter when she saw Heathernose and Panda make a beeline for the same den, then start arguing. She ran over to break it up. "Come on, Heathernose, there's another good one over there." Rowanfall pointed further downstream where a tall tree had many hollows in it. (Crude map of the dens) Chapter 2: The Gray Tail "I guess we've got all our dens figured out." Rowanfall and Heathernose sat on a branch of the tree their den was in, tails curled around their paws. Lemon Drop and Panda had claimed the dens closest to the Nursery to keep an eye on Crystal and Heather respectively. Tuft, Bloom, and Leaf all chose to stay in the second biggest tree which had three different dens in it; at the top was Leaf's, in the middle was Bloom's, and Tuft felt safer with the one that was closest to the ground. Clare had chosen the smallest tree since she was staying by herself, and this den happened to have a lot of sweet-smelling berries by the entrance. Heartface, although unhappy tha all the dens close to Rowanfall were taken, ended up taking the tallest tree and building a nest near the top. Umbra took a tree that had a nice view of the Mist Fields and Velox demanded to share the den with her, if only to make sure she didn't go running off in the middle of the night. "Oooooh, look at those rocks!" Rowanfall's ears perked and she looked down when she heard the voice of Gemma. The little she-kit was near the foot of the tree, hopping around a small patch of rocks. The stream curveed around in a horseshoe shape and ran through this patch of rocks, coming within tail-lengths of Rowanfall and Heathernose's tree. The sun seemed to shine directly on the rocks, making them a great place for sunbathing. "Be careful!" Lemon Drop ran along the rocks to where his daughter was skipping around. "Don't fall into the stream!" As if fate was tempted by Lemon's words, Gemma slipped on a slippery stone and splashed into the stream. There was a gasp from all present, followed by everyone running over to the side of the stream and gazing intot he water. Lemon and Heathernose leaped in the water, following the flailing paws of Gemma. The it was drifting farther and farther downstream, into the deeper waters and Mist Fields. Then there was another splash. Like an eel, a gray tail zipped through the water. Its owner wasn't visable, but a paw reached up and grabbed Gemma, dragging her under. Lemon gasped and swam even faster. He followed the gray tail, which was heading further downstream. However, it didn't seem to be running away. The same gray paw reached out and grabbed the land, followed by another paw then a head. The small gray tom pulled himself out of the stream, collapsing on the ground. In his mouth he held Gemma, who clung to him with her sharp claws. "'Git off, pest." he muttered, swiping at her and knocking her off. "I save your life and claw me to death for it?" Crystal and Rowanfall, who were closest, ran forward to thank the stranger. However, the brown she-cat stopped dead while Crystal ran ahead to get her daughter safely away from the annoyed tom. I... do I know him? Rowanfall wondered. He just seems so... familiar. Chapter 3 Category:Fanfiction Category:Rowanfall's Fanfiction